Bill Bryson
Early life and education
Bryson was born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa, the son of Bill Bryson Sr., a sports journalist who worked for 50 years at The Des Moines Register, and Agnes Mary (née McGuire), the home furnishings editor at the same newspaper. His mother was of Irish descent. He had an older brother, Michael (1942–2012), and a sister, Mary Jane Elizabeth. In 2006, Bryson published The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, a humorous account of his childhood years in Des Moines. In 2006 Frank Cownie, the mayor of Des Moines, awarded Bryson the key to the city and announced that 21 October 2006 would be "Bill Bryson, The Thunderbolt Kid, Day."
Early life and education
Bryson attended Drake University for two years before dropping out in 1972, deciding instead to backpack) around Europe for four months. He returned to Europe the following year with a high school friend, Matt Angerer (the pseudonymous Stephen Katz). Bryson wrote about some of his experiences from the trip in his book Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe.
Career
!Bryson in the regalia of Chancellor of [Durham University in 2005](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/BillBrysonChancellorcrop.JPG/250px-BillBrysonChancellorcrop.JPG)
Reading List
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